Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Kaiju Stereo 300B amp => Topic started by: Alby0521 on June 17, 2020, 03:57:59 PM
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Hello,
What caps are Worthwhile upgrading in the kaiju? Any experience and comment would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
AB
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The .1 uF interstage caps and the 10 uF parafeed caps are worth replacing. Beyond that, I don't think you'd hear much difference.
Easy to find replacement caps for the interstage cap: I've tried both Audyn Copper and Miflex PIO. I liked them both.
For the parafeed cap, I've tried a Mundorf Supreme (sounded good but is physically large, a bit too large to fit comfortably in the Kaiju) and a Jantzen Superior Z-Cap. I thought both sounded better than the stock Solen.
Having said that, there's really nothing wrong with the stock Solen.
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Thanks for the info!!!
I mounted the Mundorf supreme on my Beepre and even if yes they are very big, I found they sound very very good! I made a small holder that I attached to the chassis to hold the weight. It’s a year now and all worked out well so far :)
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I did something similar to get the Mundorf Supremes to fit inside of my Kaiju. As long as they're secured somehow and not floating in space held only by their leads, their size isn't an issue. To my ears, the Mundorf Supreme sounds very good in the Kaiju. I also use a Mundorf Supreme Silver Oil as the output cap in my Extended Foreplay III.
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Something else to consider is replacing the stock electrolytic 100uF cathode resistor bypass with a film cap (e.g., Solen). Not as big of a difference as the interstage and parafeed couplings caps, but still noticeable (to my ears). But I don't think you can fit both a huge parafeed cap and a huge film bypass cap between the PT and the OPTs, particularly if you have the DC filament upgrade.
I managed it by using 3 x 3.3uF closely matched VCap ODAMs in parallel - they're pretty small, and sound very good (again, to my ears). I also "bypass" them with a 0.1uF Vcap CuTF. It all just barely fits.
Note that a film bypass cap comes stock with the new Monomours.
cheers, Derek
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They fit.
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Hah! But I don't think that would work with a huge Mundorf Supreme. That Superior Z looks to be moderately sized.
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I could leave a 10"x10" space for each parallel feed capacitor and somebody will find one that's 11"x11" and tell me that I didn't leave enough room.
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Well, that would obviously be insane. However, a nice 10" x 6" open space would have been entirely reasonable and appreciated: http://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=11663.msg105881#msg105881 (http://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=11663.msg105881#msg105881) ;D
They were too big. So they ended up in my massive BeePre rebuild prototype - and just barely fit. They're coming out for the final rebuild (in progress).
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I would bet that if you wait about 5 more years, there will be 10uF 600V caps that are the size of an adult shoe.
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The Miflex almost fit that bill: 8 1/4" x 3 3/4" - depending on one's standard for "adult shoe".
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For the 0.1uf I have a brand new pair of Mundorf supreme 0.1uf 965VAC, 1400VDC.
Would that fit well electronically (would that work)?
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Yes.
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Thanks!
For the 10uf I have a pair of Jentzen silver Z (which I see is what Paul has so I suppose it’s a good choice :) ).
Interesting to replace the 100uf cathode resistor with a film cap. I don’t have Any so I’ll need to buy them. Would something like this make sense or it’s overdoing it?
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/mundorf-mcap-100uf-250vdc-p-4115
Thanks in advance.
AB
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It should fit since it's a bit smaller (49 mm x 66 mm) than PB's 100uF Dayton Audio Cap (51 mm x 75 mm).
Go for it!
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Here's a question: if a cathode bypass capacitor is used to block the AC signal from going to ground (which is my admittedly limited understanding of why they're used), why would changing from an electrolytic to a poly cap make a sonic difference? The musical signal doesn't actually pass through a cathode bypass cap, right?
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Here's a question: if a cathode bypass capacitor is used to block the AC signal from going to ground
Capacitors are a (relatively) short circuit to AC but do not pass DC current to ground.
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Ordered the Kaiju yesterday, ordered the 100uf caps today:)
I’ll be building it stock, than adding caps in different times. I’ll report back in about 1 or 2 months.
Best
AB
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Thanks for your order!
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They fit.
I know this is an old topic but is it even possible to install the DC filament with those massive capacitors installed?
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Worked for me.
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Nice, good to know.